These Histories are presented as a reference. They should NOT be given too much weight. Herodotus was more of a storyteller than a Historian. It is probable that Herodotus NEVER visited these places, but simply Made up stories from things that he had heard. Much the same as was done By the author of Robinson Crusoe, (he never left England).
But most importantly:
The ancient Greek and Roman writers were Blacks.
What you are getting is Albino translations of their works designed to make them appear to be Albinos.
It is very difficult to carry a complicated lie forward through the years, so consequently the translations are often contradictory.
Reference Wiki:
Aethiopia (Classical Greek term) = Ethiopia = "Burnt face".
The Greek historian Herodotus specifically uses it to describe all of Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Latin name Libya referred to the region west of the Nile Valley, generally corresponding to modern Northwest Africa.
Examples of the lie induced errors:
[2.104] There can be no doubt that the Colchians are an Egyptian race. My own conjectures were founded, first, on the fact that they are black-skinned and have woolly hair, which certainly amounts to but little, since several other nations are so too. But further and more especially, on the circumstance that the Colchians, the Egyptians, and the Ethiopians (here he is talking Nubians), are the only nations who have practised circumcision from the earliest times.
[7.70] The eastern Ethiopians - for two nations of this name served in the army - were marshalled with the Indians. They differed in nothing from the other Ethiopians, save in their language, and the character of their hair. For the eastern Ethiopians have straight hair, while they of Libya (here he is talking about ALL of Africa) are more woolly-haired than any other people in the world.
(Aren't INDIANS "Straight-haired" Blacks?).
[7.9] Whereupon Mardonius took the word, and said: "Of a truth, my lord, thou dost surpass, not only all living Persians, but likewise those yet unborn. Most true and right is each word that thou hast now uttered; but best of all thy resolve not to let the Ionians who live in Europe - a worthless crew - mock us any more. It were indeed a monstrous thing if, after conquering and enslaving the Sacae, the Indians, the Ethiopians, the Assyrians, and many other mighty nations.
(Above he is talking about neither Nubia or southern Africa, since the Persians conquered neither), that leaves only Libya, which the Persians did conquer.
Do you really think that Herodotus would confuse people and parts of the world like that?
ADDITIONALLY:
At the time of Herodotus, neither the Black "Straight-haired" Indians, nor the Brown-skinned Hindu were the masters of India.
The Maurya Empire (circa 322 B.C.)
It was the world's largest empire in its time. At its greatest extent, the empire stretched to the north along the natural boundaries of the Himalayas, and to the east stretching into what is now Assam. To the west, it reached beyond modern Pakistan, annexing Balochistan and much of what is now Afghanistan, including the modern Herat and Kandahar provinces. The Empire was expanded into India's central and southern regions by the emperors Chandragupta and Bindusara, but it excluded a small portion of unexplored tribal and forested regions near Kalinga (modern Orissa).
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